Said the Vampire to the Earthmate
by Vanch
Summary: Noire begins to wonder what the rest of Whale Island looks like, and who better to explore it with than Raguna?
1. Questions

_Author's note: Hello everyone! I've been reading quite a few stories on here, and can't help but notice the small amount of Iris fics. I'd like to thank Vee851, xXEmeleeXx and The Genius Mage Divine Wolfe for inspiring me to do this story with their fantastic writing. I hope you all enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rune Factory Frontier, any of the characters mentioned, or any other Rune Factory game or any other works involving it._

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><p>Raguna took a moment to catch his breath. He'd made this same trek countless times, yet it still managed to tire him out each journey. He approached the door to the tower, and turned, taking in the view. The sun was setting, and it bathed the sky in a fiery orange glow. Yes, the view from Whale Island was magnificent at this time. He smiled to himself, his breathing stable once more, sheathed his blade and opened the door to the tower.<p>

As soon as Raguna had opened the door the smell of flowers assaulted him. Almost a dozen different types were placed in pots around the room... _I wonder how many of these were gifts from me_? He turned to the stairs, making his way up them cautiously. He rarely came this early, and last time he had, he'd happened to stumble upon the two Irises changing from their night gowns to their every day attire. Needless to say, it didn't end well for him. As he neared the last step, still grimacing from the painful memory, he cautiously peered into the room. He couldn't see either of them, and the light sound of snoring, which Raguna recognised to be Blanche, told him they were still asleep. He crept back down the stairs, smiling, deciding to wait until they awoke.

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><p>Noire had woken up earlier than usual; she'd been dreaming that she was exploring Whale Island with Raguna. She'd been shocked awake when her dream self had been smashed by a monster, throwing her off the floating isle and into the dizzying drop to the lands below, and she had been unable to get back to sleep since. She looked at the thick, purple curtains draped over the windows, and saw the powerful glow of the setting sun shining through the small cracks. She yawned slightly. <em>I'd love to explore the island with him one day... If I can just work up the nerve to ask him<em>. She turned onto her side, looking at her other half, sleeping on her back as usual. She smiled to herself, listening to Blanche snore softly, and mused how, despite once being one, over their time apart, they might've well have been different people. She sighed slightly, rolling onto her back, and stared at the ceiling... _I wonder if Raguna thinks of us as different people..._ She jumped slightly. _Was that the door opening?_ She turned onto her stomach and looked towards the stairs, clutching the pillow.

"Raguna never comes to visit this early" she whispered quietly to herself.

"Not after last time, when he..." She begun to blush at the memory, almost instantly snapping back to attention, she fixed her miss-matched eyes on the stairs. She could hear the sound of very soft foot steps against stone, slowly climbing up the stairs.

"_This is ridiculous,"_ she thought to herself "I know how to defend myself... The monster shouldn't be that powerful, I should be able to fight it, I have to protect Blanche... should I wake her up, should I let her sleep so she doesn't throw herself in harm's way? I just have to-"a mop of familiar dark brown hair could be seen poking up from the stair well, followed by the barest glimpse of piercing blue eyes. A wave of relief washed over her, a small smile playing on her face. She opened her mouth to greet him, but before she could, he disappeared back down the stairs. She frowned, confused for a second, then laughed softly to herself when she realised just _why_ he was being so cautious. She lifted the blanket from her and made her way off the bed, crawling carefully over Blanche, careful to not wake her up as she did. She let out a small gasp as her bare feet hit the cold stone floor, and edged quickly on tip toes to her slippers. She straightened her night gown out, it was short sleeved, made of dark silk with white trim and reached to her knees, Blanche's was identical, just with an inverted colour scheme. She run her fingers through her hair as she ran down the stairs, hoping to catch Raguna before the Sun's still powerful glare could hit her through the door. Raguna had clearly crept back down the stairs at the same slow pace; just knowing how much he cared caused Noire to smile happily to herself. Raguna had opened the door by the time she got down stairs, and was just about to step out as she called softly to him.

"Raguna..."

Raguna turned towards the voice, and let out a small gasp of surprise as he saw Noire, standing on the first step, hands in front of her and folded together, pushing down on her gown, she smiled at him, blushing slightly. The site caused Raguna himself to turn red. He caught himself, and nodded at her.

"Good evening, Iris... Don't you usually wait till the sun fully goes down to get up?" He asked, tilting his head at her.

Noire shrugged softly, and looked at the floor, letting out a soft sound of agreement. Raguna closed the door, and took a step towards her. "Iris, are you okay?" She nodded once, still looking down. Raguna reached into his pack and brought out a bottle of tomato juice, and held it up for her.

"Here, I brought you this," Noire gently took the bottle gently.

"Thank you so much..." She said looking up at him momentarily to take the bottles, one for her, the other for Blanche.

They stood in awkward silence for a while, before Raguna turned to the door.

"Right, I'll let you get changed then, I'll be back soon." Raguna opened the door, and took a step out. Noire looked at him, hesitated a moment, and spoke up.

"Raguna, wait!" She cried hurriedly. Raguna turned to look at her, confused.

"What's the matter?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Can you..." She said began, gripping the tomato juice bottles tightly for some form of support. She swallowed hard, and began again "Can you... Take me with you around Whale Island!"

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><p><em>Well, that is it for now folks, the first chapter, I really hope you'll enjoy it; I always get nervous when people read my work... Anyway, I'll update soon!<em>


	2. Preparation

_Author's note: Thank you all for the helpful reviews and thank you even more for pointing out my flaws. Writing is a form or art, and as a great man once said, the worst insult you can give to an artist is to tell him his work is perfect when it is flawed. Anyway, here is the next chapter._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rune Factory or any of the characters mentioned within this story._

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><p>Raguna sat on the Iris sisters' bed, anxiously watching Noire prepare for the trip. He'd tried hard to change her mind, yet she was determined, not swayed by Raguna's pleas. He sighed, and ran through the conversation they had on the stairs.<p>

"_Come again...?" _He had said to her, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

"_I said I want you to take me with you around Whale Island!" _She'd frowned, having finally asked him, she was determined to see it through.

"_Iris, do you know how dangerous it is out there? I've barely escaped with my life more times than I can count, I wouldn't be able to protect you as w-" _Before he could finish, Noire had cried out in frustration, and almost yelled at him.

"_I can defend myself fine, or have you forgotten!" _She'd said angrily. She had put her hand over her mouth, gasping, after realising what she'd said, and instantly wished she had not said it. Tears had come to her eyes as she thought back to that day, when she had fought Raguna in the ruins. Raguna had noticed the regret on her face and the tears in her eyes, and moved up onto the step, pulling her into an embrace. He wasn't angry.

"_Alright..." _he'd whispered_ "I'll take you with me..." _

And so, here he sat, waiting, running through a dozen dreadful scenarios in his head, all ending in Noire winding up seriously injured, or worse.

"I'm ready." Raguna looked up at Noire, she was now wearing her everyday attire, a first aid kit was strapped to her waist, and she was wearing a long flowing black scarf. Raguna also wryly noticed she had the tomato juice from earlier tucked into her pocket. Blanche stood beside her other half, and gently placed both her hands on her left arm. Noire looked at her, and smiled.

"Please, both of you, be careful out there, I don't know what I'd do if... anything..." She stopped, and looked down at the floor. Raguna put a hand on her shoulder and grinned.

"Come on now, have a bit more faith in me than that, Iris. Now, don't worry so much, open a bottle of tomato juice and relax, we'll only be gone a few hours." Both Irises looked from Raguna to each other, and smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Noire asked, taking Blanche's hand in her own.

"Yes, I'm sure, I've gone deeper into the island once, I wanted to try and sketch some of the ruins, but I got attacked by monsters. I saw all I needed to see back then. Plus, I'd only get in the way..." Blanche smiled weakly at them both. Noire hugged her over half, and assured them that their journey would be safe, one more time, before making her way out of the tower. Raguna stayed behind, and looked at Blanche.

"Excuse me if this sounds rude, but... why didn't you try harder to convince her not to go?"

Blanche chuckled, a sweet, melodic sound, and winked at Raguna.

"This may sound weird but... I know myself well enough to know she wouldn't have been swayed from her choice." She laughed again after she said that, and placed a hand on Raguna's cheek.

"Please... Make sure she stays safe... Protect her... Protect us..." she murmured softly.

"Iris... I will. I promise." He said sternly, placing his hand on hers. Despite his tone of voice, his eyes showed his confusion. Blanche kissed him on the cheek, blushing as she did so.

"Now, don't keep her waiting... Get going!" Raguna looked at her, mouth open slightly, turning red himself.

"Alright, thank you..." He clenched his jaw, and ran towards the stairs.

"What're you saying "thank you" for?" She asked him, tilting her head to one side. Raguna looked back at her, placing a hand on his cheek and chuckled softly.

"I... Don't know."

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><p>Blanche watched him go. She slowly walked to the top of the stairs and crossed her arms over her chest, closing her eyes. She smiled. <em>Raguna, I'm so glad you care for her as you do for me. I, maybe my other half, can show you what I haven't been able to... Noire... Good luck.<em>

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><p>Noire leaned against the door, arms crossed in front of her, softly humming her spirit song. She was beginning to feel nervous, the events of the dream was still fresh in her mind, and even thinking about it made her feel dizzy. <em>Don't be ridiculous, that won't happen<em> she thought to herself, yet despite her own reassurances, she couldn't shake off her doubts.

"Right, you ready?" She blinked, and looked up at Raguna, who was standing on the stairs, he had his hand right resting on the hilt of his blade, and his left was gently touching his cheek.

"Yes..." she said softly, eyeing Raguna "Why are you touching your cheek?" Raguna instantly placed his arm by side, side, and rushed to the door, Noire stepped out of the way as he approached.

"No reason, now, you got everything?" Noire nodded, raising a bemused eyebrow at his reaction.

"Good, let's go!"

Raguna opened the door, and stepped out, Noire following behind him. As his feet hit the grass outside he stopped, and turned to Noire.

"Before we go on, take this." Raguna reached behind him, and pulled off the almost omnipresent dagger attached to his lower back. He held it out for her, gripping it so tight the leather scabbard began to crease. Iris looked at the dagger, her heterochromic eyes wide. She stepped outside next to him, her scarf, cloak and hair all blowing serenely in the breeze.

"Keep it safe; use it if things get... out of hand. I hope you won't have to, though." He said, smiling reassuringly at her. Noire tentatively reached out for the blade, gripping it gently, as if not wanting to anger this deadly tool. She placed it in her pocket, leaning neatly against the bottle of tomato juice, and looked Raguna in the eye. She nodded sternly.

"Thank you." She murmured. Raguna frowned slightly, concern evident on his face.

"Still sure you want to do this?" She blinked, slightly startled by Raguna's question. She was silent for a moment. Did she want this? She told herself it was just to explore the island, but she knew she'd never risk her life for something like that. No, she knew the real reason she wanted to explore the island with Raguna and because of that, she knew she had to go through with this.

"Yes, I do. Come, let's get going." She said, sounding more confident than she had expected. Raguna smiled, and she could tell he'd been expecting that answer.

"Alright, do where first? Do you want to go to the caves?" Raguna pointed to the east, where the entrance to the vast cave complex of Whale Island stood, the moon light shining down on it giving it a menacing shadow at the entrance. Noire looked in the direction Raguna was pointing, and bit her lower lip, pondering.

"Or we can go to the ruins." Raguna walked around the tower, Noire following close behind, getting a better look at the ruins that made up the section of the island north of the tower. At the top of Whale Island, the dark shadow of a castle could be seen looming. Noire pondered the options in silence, before pointing east.

"If we could, go to the caves first, I'd prefer that, and the ruins after." Noire said quietly, finishing with "If it's okay with you, of course." Raguna nodded at her.

"Alright, caves first, let's see how we fare there, and we'll go to the ruins if you still want to." He said, before grinning and adding "And if were still able to walk." Noire glared at him, clearly not amused. He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes closed, chuckling softly.

"Aha... sorry..." Noire sighed and managed a small smile.

"Yes, very funny." She walked on ahead, heading towards the path to the cave entrance. Raguna opened his eyes, noticed she'd move on ahead, and ran after her, drawing his sword in preparation as he did.

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><p><em>And, that's all for now, everyone. I'm constantly trying to improve, so please tell me honestly what you thought of this chapter. Better, worse, same, etcetera. I'm going on a week long holiday on Friday, I hope to get another chapter up by then, but if not, I'll update as soon as I get back! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!<em>


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